Category: Bossa Nova

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Tamba Trio – Tamba Trio (1975)

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Tamba Trio
(self-titled)
RCA 888430906624
Original release 1975
Reissue 2014 (EU)

1 – 3 Horas Da Manhã  (Ivan Lins, Waldemar Correia) 2:42
2 Visgo De Jaca (Sergio Cabral, Rildo Hora) 2:35
3 Ou Bola Ou Bulica (Aldir Blanc, Joao Bosco) 2:12
4 Beira-Mar (Ivan Lins) 2:19
5 Olha Maria (Amparo) (A.C. Jobim) 4:45
6 Chorinho No. 1 (Durval Ferreira) 1:44
7 Jogo Da Vida (Sidney Miller, Danilo Caymmi) 3:15
8 Sanguessuga (Fernando Brant, Toninho Horta) 3:47
9 Janelas (Ivan Lins, Ronaldo Monteiro) 1:38
10 Contra O Vento (Ana Borba, Danilo Caymmi) 2:45
11 Beijo Partido (Toninho Horta) 2:28
12 Chamada (Helio Delmiro, Paulo Cesar Pinheiro) 2:10

Arrangements, piano, Fender Rhodes, Arp Synthesizer, Vocals – Luiz Eça
Bass, Percussion, Flute [In C And G], Vocals  – Bebeto
Percussion, Drums, Vocals – Hélcio Milito

With Hélio Delmiro (guitar)

Also featuring João Bosco (guitar and vocal on Track 3); Toninho Horta (guitar on tracks 8 & 11); Danilo Caymmi (guitar, tracks 7 & 10); and Rildo Hora (harmonica, track 2).

Recorded and mixed by Nestor Vitiritti, RCA Studios, Rio de Janeiro

Artwork By – Ney Tavora
Artwork and Photographic Effects– Sérgio De Garcia
Coordinator, Directed By – Raymundo Bittencourt
Design – Carlos Guarany
Photography – Ivan Klingen

 

This is a very solid record, and Tamba Trio was doing a fine job of updating their sound to stay contemporary with developments in MPB. So instead of Jobim & Vincius compositions, we have Aldir Blanc and Joao Bosco (who also guests on the record), Fernando Brandt and Toninho Horta (another guest), Danilo Caymmi, Ivan Lins (yet another guest), Paulo Cesar Pinheiro — only top shelf stuff here, it’s like reaching for the blue Johnny Walker bottle instead of the black or the red.  Another nice touch is the neo-chorinho composition by Durval Ferreira here.

But this is obviously no longer a trio configuration of the group, and the album doesn’t have the exuberance or urgency of their early records.  It does have the mature confidence of guys who have been playing together for over a decade and invited a bunch of their talented famous friends over to create new textures on their new album.  Bassist and flautist Bebeto sings on this record, and his voice is what I imagine Chico Buarque might sound like if he were suffering from dengue fever, with that microtonally desafinado (out of tune) quality so characteristic of bossa nova which – if you aren’t quite in the mood for it – can make a person feel a little seasick.

Mirror 1 || Mirror 2

 

16-bit 44.1 khz

Mirror 1 ||  Mirror 2

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João Gilberto – O amor, o sorriso, e a flor (1960) (Odeon MOFB 3151)

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João Gilberto – O amor, o sorriso e a flor
1960 Odeon – MOFB 3151
This pressing, early 1970’s, mono mix

A month ago, the world mourned the loss of a gentle musical soul,  and an icon of a Brazil that ceased to exist long ago.  Like many others, discovering João Gilberto’s music beyond the Getz/Gilberto album was a major “event” in my life that made me want to understand more about a country that could produce such a messenger of raw beauty.  Twenty-odd years later and I am still coming to grips with understanding the place – as are many Brazilians these days – but this much is certain:  Brazil will never produce another João Gilberto. Continue reading

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Som Três – Som Três Show (1968) (BOM24183)

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Som Tres – Som Tres Show (1968)
Original: 1968 Odeon MOFB 3541
Reissue: 2010 Bomba Records, Japan – BOM24183
Originally Odeon MOFB 3541

1. Leonardo
2. Falsa Baiana
3. Amazonas (Keep Talking)
4. The World Goes On
5. The Look Of Love
6. Frevo Rasgado
7. Jungle
8. Sá Marina
9. Watch What Happens
10. Emília
11. Balanço Zona Sul Continue reading

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Walter Wanderley Trio – Chegança (1966) (1971 reissue)

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The Walter Wanderley Trio – Cheganca
Original release 1966 on Verve
1971 Reissue MGM Records
Series: MGM Latino Series – 10,010 MGS 610

Like many musicians looking for reprieve from the turmoil of mid-60s Brazil, keyboardist Walter Wanderley had left the country and settled in the United States.   He emigrated at the behest of Creed Taylor and made half a dozen albums for Verve. Most of them can be classed under ‘lounge’ or ‘exotica’ music, which has its own charms, although often as sweet as the half ton of bagged sugar featured on the front of this album.  But “Chegança” is more like the bossa-jazz records Wanderley made in Brazil and has much less of the Creed Taylor background-music schmaltz factor.   The whole band grooves together.  There is appropriately unsubtle cuica playing on O Ganso (“The Goose”)  The highlight, though,  is still the organ playing.  Have a listen to the solo in “Você e eu” below. Continue reading

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Herbie Mann – Do The Bossa Nova (1962) (Atlantic 1397, Mono pressing)

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Herbie Mann
Do The Bossa Nova
1962 Atlantic 1397
Mono pressing

Before bossa nova became the semiotic index for the synthetic happiness of mass consumer culture and alienation (and long before it was featured in the supermarkets and the Commander’s dinner parties in the current adaptation of A Handmaid’s Tale), bossa nova was  associated with the cool and cosmopolitan, with goatee-sporting hep cats like Herbie Mann.  For this record, he went to Rio and actually recorded with a bunch of the leading lights of the movement, which sets this apart from a lot of the contemporary North American jazz-bossa crossovers of the time.  The personnel includes Baden Powell, Paulo Moura, Tom Jobim, and Sérgio Mendes. A fun version of Clifford Brown’s ‘Blues Walk’ gives it a Brazilian twist.

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